Kensington Council plans Supercar crackdown

Supercar owners could face prosecution in London as the local Council aims to crackdown on 'the problem of supercars'.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea this week begun a consultation on introducing a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) - in response to requests from residents in the Brompton and Hans Town ward for the Council to address the issue of high performance cars speeding in the streets, drivers revving engines, and vehicles causing obstructions.

In recent times, the summer months have seen an influx of Supercars - including Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Bugattis - brought over by wealthy Middle Easterners as they arrive to stay in their London properties. This results in much annoyance to local residents as the traffic on roads around Harrods becomes more like a luxury moving motor show.

A PSPO is a new measure, created by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which is intended to deal with activities carried out in a public space that have a detrimental effect to the local community's quality of life. This PSPO would enable the Council to impose restrictions within a particular area and the aim is to stop individuals or groups committing antisocial behaviour in public spaces.

Cllr Tim Ahern, Cabinet Member for Environment, Environmental Health and Leisure, said: "I know there has been a lot of coverage of expensive cars racing around Knightsbridge and also parking up and revving their engines. We want to take steps to discourage these drivers from their antisocial behaviour."

However Alex Prindiville, owner of Prindiville, central London's only supercar showroom commented: "The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's proposal to draft a new set of anti-social behaviour laws to deal specifically with the 'menace' of wealthy Middle Eastern supercar drivers is heavy-handed and unnecessary". He goes on to say "Existing laws are already perfectly adequate to deal with the minority of supercar drivers who step out of line, provided they are properly enforced."